“You have a ball and it can make a whole team happy”
|Image: HWC/Rebecca Corbett
Sebastian first represented Denmark at the Homeless World Cup in Copenhagen in 2007. In 2022 he was back on the pitch representing his country at the Nordic Homeless Cup in Stockholm.
Most days Sebastian Elliot Nygaard goes past the training ground where he first started to play football as a five-year-old. It’s been forty-five years since he first kicked a ball, but his love of football is still as strong today as it was when he was a child.
The game also has more significance for him now. It’s helped him to rebuild his life.
In 2007, he was homeless and living in a shelter. When he was invited along to play football, he caught the attention of the Danish national team coach. He was looking for players for the Homeless World Cup, which was taking place in Copenhagen later that year.
For eight months, Sebastian lived and trained with the team.
“We were in the house and training, and we were talking about getting a job, quitting drugs and when we played in Copenhagen, the big paper was watching the games. It was a marvellous time.
“It was the biggest experience I ever had. It almost made me cry. Everyday there were children and they’d painted their faces with the national flag. There were 4,000 people, a prince was there watching.
“It made me think another way and see opportunities that before I didn’t have”
|Image: HWC/Rebecca Corbett
The organisation running the national street soccer programme is called Ombold, they run regular drop-in football sessions year-round where people struggling with addiction, social isolation and homelessness are always welcome.
Sebastian started taking drugs in the 1990s as a teenager, “I was trying to smoke cannabis, I thought it was great and then I ruined my life.”
“Before Ombold it was lots of drugs, and I was drinking. It was not a good life.”
Since joining the programme with Ombold, Sebastian’s life has changed for the better.
“All of us are coming from bad places, but now we’re happy. Football makes you happy.”
“You have a ball, and it can make a whole team happy. I believe that football can change the world. When we are here together, we are not thinking about our pasts. It’s a free place where you can have fun and play football.”
“We lost one of our players in 2009, he died in a hotel of an overdose. So, it’s nice to be here now and play football and be with the guys. It’s just great to be here and have this experience and we can talk about this next year when we’re at home.”
Ombold are our partner in Denmark, find out how they’re using football to end homelessness and tackle social isolation.
Words: Rebecca Corbett